Do you want to fight scary monsters to get your hands on homemade strawberry cake? If so, you are not the only one. Spring Witch R is a quirky role-playing game whose plot revolves around the story of Pieberry, a talented young witch who grew up alone in the woods.
As the name might suggest, Pieberry is a big fan of pies. And strawberries. The story starts off calmly enough, with Pieberry trying to leave her magical forest to track down a strawberry pie like the one she ate as a child, while trying to understand why she seems to have been abandoned by her parents. Things spiral from there, with a vast world and a vibrant roster of characters, from pudding monsters and lightning lions to witch hunters and celestial creatures. It’s a story-driven experience, but gameplay quickly shifts from turn-based combat to fun puzzles.
WitchSpring R is divided into seven different chapters, with multiple difficulty options offered and the ability to create a New Game Plus save file after completing the first run. Our total playtime took us around 22 hours, although we skipped some of the puzzles, unlockables, and extra pets, focusing solely on the main story.
The story is definitely one of the best things about WitchSpring R. It switches between light and dark perfectly, giving the characters a lot of depth and a solid pace that keeps you hooked until the end. It can get a little cheesy at times but it’s a heartwarming story with characters that have a lot of depth and purpose behind them.
Aside from the story, one of the strengths that should be highlighted right away is the satisfying sense of progression. As you’d expect, Pieberry becomes significantly more powerful as you progress through the game, with plenty of opportunities to train, upgrade her skills, and improve her weapons.
In fact, the game punishes you somewhat for Are not train and enhance Pieberry’s abilities. Combat can be increased at low levels, but is not recommended, especially if you’re new to turn-based gameplay. Combat is extremely fun and impactful, but can also be very difficult. Not building Pieberry will result in some extremely difficult combat encounters, while having the right builds, pets, and weapons can make things easier for you. At some point, you gain the ability to summon missiles at your opponents, thanks to a key ally.
Pets and summons are especially important in combat. Pieberry has the ability to control the minds of creatures in the outside world, essentially capturing them like Pokémon. Having the right creatures by your side can make boss fights much more interesting, and they can provide other perks like acting as a mount outside of combat or restoring resources when needed.
Speaking of bosses, the enemy designs here feel incredibly fresh. While there are standard fantasy elements sprinkled throughout the game, there are some really standout character designs that feel like fresh perspectives on the genre. Each enemy drops items that are relevant to their design and location, making each fight feel well thought out and well thought out.
You’ll be grinding away at resources during your time with WitchSpring R, as there’s an extensive crafting system that allows you to upgrade weapons, craft consumables, and craft combat accessories. Crafting feels smooth and efficient, with an interface that’s a little overwhelming at first but easy to get used to once you get the hang of it.
Small quality of life features are also included to make farming more enjoyable. You can walk around fights you don’t want to get into, and you’ll be able to automatically fight any creatures in low-level areas that you’ve previously defeated.
Along with crafting and farming, there’s also a training system that allows Pieberry to improve his stats through mini-games. There are a few other mini-games and puzzles around the world alongside the training games, and they’re mostly fun – except for the blacksmithing, which feels clunky and out of place on the Switch.
If you’re a fan of hunting for secrets and exploring, you’ll be rewarded for doing so here. There are a number of items, weapons, and pets to drop throughout the world, meaning that spending a few extra minutes in a location can be extremely beneficial.
While the game offers a charming world with plenty of charm, there are still some issues worth considering. Performance is decent for the most part, looking good in both handheld and docked modes, but there are some minor graphical glitches and bugs. One particularly common bug is Pieberry suddenly disappearing after teleporting. Her weapon will remain in the frame, but she will disappear from view – even during cutscenes. This will fix itself after moving to another area, but it does make navigating a bit difficult. This happened a total of five times during our 22 hours of play.
We also noticed some odd texture and lighting issues, along with some typos and grammatical errors. These aren’t too serious, but a typo during an emotional monologue or intense confrontation can be frustrating and break immersion.
Graphics issues and a disappearing protagonist aside, this game is a lot of fun. The story is rich and engaging, the characters feel very soulful, and the world itself is a joy to explore, with a solid mix of gameplay styles, from tough battles and boss fights to intricate puzzles and light investigations.
Conclusion
If you’re willing to overlook some typos and some pretty significant visual issues, WitchSpring R is a great example of turn-based combat with a strong story to back it up. It’s quirky and enthralling, and you’ll never know how things will end. Best of all, the NG+ option gives it a bit of replayability for players who like a challenge. The visual quirks do hurt the score here, though. While they’re not game-breaking, having the main character suddenly disappear during important cutscenes is frustrating and affected our overall experience.
